25 Years Ago February, 1982
25 YEARS AGO FEBRUARY, 1982
ROUNDUP
Kawasaki’s "Big Green Winning Machine” was pictured on the cover, with a young Eddie Lawson at the controls. It was a large lump of KZ1000, and Lawson used it to storm the ’81 AMA Superbike Production Championship. Staffer John Ulrich in his story about riding the bike told of being passed in an endurance race by Lawson that year, commenting, “Damn! That’s some motorcycle!” Indeed, as a photo showed one of the Exec. Ed.’s leather-pucked knees making smoke as it dragged in a corner! A “dirt-track engine builder” named Rob Muzzy was in charge of engine development. You may have heard of him...
• “Now for something completely different,” was how the late Henry Manney III introduced his entertaining story regarding Moto Guzzi’s lovely old Falcone Single, quite vintage even 25 years ago.
• The same intro could have been used for the Husqvarna WR250 and XC250 dual test, the respective enduro and cross-country versions of the company’s two-strokes getting a full back-to-back run. Both bikes cost $2545, and the conclusion was, “Either way, it’ll be hard to go wrong.”
• A moment of irony was recorded in Race Watch: Terry Vance on his Suzuki GS1100 was upset in the Top Fuel final round at now-defunct Orange County International Raceway by Russ Collins on his RC Engineering Honda V-Eight “Sorcerer.” How is this Ironic?
Byron Hines had built the engine package for Collins before leaving RC Engineering to form Vance & Hines Racing! -Mark Hoyer
